Politics

World

Multimedia

More

Sri Lanka airbag sensor maker optimistic on US market despite Trump

Feb 24, 2017 07:05 AM GMT+0530 | 0 Comment(s)

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka-based Lanka Harness, an airbag sensor maker that won an order to replace defective airbags supplied by Takata, says it is confident of supplyingto the US market despite looming protectionism under President Donald Trump.

"I am not too concerned about this. Replacing suppliers is not easy," Lanka Harness Chief Rohan Pallewatte was quoted as saying in Colombo-based Echelon business magazine.

"It’s not easy to replicate and sustain quality. You can copy a product, but the quality is a result of the process, which is not easily copied."

Lanka Harness has set up a $5 million plant in Mexico to supply US car makers after it won a big order to replace defective airbags made by Takata. It has doubled output to 2.2 million units a month after the deal.

Newly elected US President Donald Trump has vowed to up import duty on imports from Mexico in a bid to 'protect' jobs at home amid a heavily nationalist agenda that has drawn fire not just from liberty advocates and those backing human values, but also from US businesses that had built efficient global value chains.

Pallewatte says he built the Mexico plant to be close to Detroit and reduce lead times.

He says the US market is large and there will continue to be demand from abroad.